MLS

My husband travelled through US VISA lottery. He became a citizen on June 2009 and he was not involved with anyone. He could not get a Nigerian visa on the US passport, so he used the two passport. It is called a dual passport, whereby one can enter and leave a country without a problem. Maybe the CO is not aware of that. We wedded this year and he came back with the two passports. It is allowed.

Thanks for the clarification. I do think that is an essential part of the story to highlight. Often significant pieces like that elude officers accustomed to "tricky business." I believe that a good place to start is with a detailed time line of your relationship; next try to find as many bits and pieces of verification of each of those steps as possible. It will help you show exactly what needs to be seen for an approval. If your pictures/ letters etc are limited you may consider anything else like keepsakes you exchanged etc.

It is a difficult process especially if you aren't the "showy" kind of relationship people. But it is good to start thinking now because something may just occur to you!

Again, best wishes.

What you need is to spend significant time living together and document that. Without it, don't expect a different result than the first interview.

Unfortunately, this seems to be the best advice. I get the sense that this may not be possible in your circumstances... good luck.

Thank you all for your reply.

My husband is a Nigerian, he still holds two passports(Nigeria and US) and he has record of the trips, we have mails, phone records, emails as our communication records. We took more pictures during our wedding this year, also before and after the wedding.

Pls is there any other things we need now, so we can start preparing them, i do not want to be denied again. God forbid.

Thank you

Hi there, I think you have come to the right place for advice.

I hope that all goes well for you and yours. However, I have a question regarding your previous statement that your husband's US passport was not stamped. How/ how long ago did your husband become a U.S. citizen? Also, during the past twelve years was he involved with anyone else while in the United States?

I ask these questions to get a better picture of your relationship from a CO's eyes. If there are red flags, you must acknowledge them before there is even a tiny hope of success.

best wishes

Thanks.

Do you think a change of address to another state (and therefore perhaps a re-evaluation by a different processing center) after taking biometrics might cause a delay?

I changed my address during this process and, although I received confirmation of my address change at my new address, all correspondence went to the old address!! Luckily, I was still able to have my old door man hold on to my mail or I would have been screwed.

I will like to make something clear here. Dont come here and lie as that would not let someone give you the right advice. If your still in school and in status why work illegally? All you had to do is take your job offer to your international student advisor and he would endorse the job with a letter and you take that letter to SSN office and you get an SSN. So please I dont believe the fact that you are still in school. just so we are clear do not lie so other people can learn from your case

No indication of a lie here. Not all international student offices insist upon social security processing unless there is a scholarship or work-study financial aid in place. This visa usually requires on campus work during the school year or use of CPT for off campus work. Not every institution provides for such.

Frankly, until there is DNA confirmation, you stand a chance of being denied in Kingston. I am sure your fiance is a stand-up guy, but this scenario has played out several times and it is an instant red flag. Although he may not petition for the child now. He may do so later. There is always a presumption of fraud to be overcome, so please make sure you have grilled him and understand ALL details better than the CO will.

I know it can be uncomfortable to tackle some hard issues in long distance relationships, but trust me please, that as a Jamaican, this phenomenon of the "child out of the blue" is common and will be treated with loads of skepticism.

I wish you both the best.

Unfortunately, I would not suggest you accept a job that would require you start working before you get your EAD in hand. You are absolutely not supposed to work without authorization. I know that the job is probably as good as it gets... (I've been in the same situation)...but truly, I wouldn't jeopardize the rest of my life for one great opportunity right now.

Maybe you can stall the employer for a while. Good luck.

My interview went well today. Very happy to report that I was approved and got a stamp on the spot! Will write a longer review later

My basic review:

Our appointment was for 1:45pm, we got there at 1:05pm. The atmosphere was pretty intense and there weren't many smiles to go around...(The front desk woman was busy with personal business on the phone, and wasn't very helpful or pleasant, so I had check with the (sour)lady behind the counter to make sure we were being remembered/that an IO was given our file and notified that we were here.) We waited to be called for about 2 hrs. Talked politics/read some magazines we had bought in the meantime. There were on average 5 couples (most with at least one child) waiting with their attorneys speaking in hushed tones.

We eventually got called by a polite gentleman of South Asian descent. He was very stern until after he swore us in, then he was very warm. He first requested IDs and original birth certificates etc. Then, he asked very personal questions that indicated he wanted to get a better sense of who we were. For example, what qualities did we like about each other. What do we have in common and a few that were situation specific (regarding reasons for previous divorce and plans for the future.) It was very emotionally overwhelming to be able to gush about each other and our love to someone who genuinely seemed interested.

He asked for pictures. (I gave him a photo-book I had made of our journey together to be added to the file.) He liked that it showed and explained in captions each step of our courtship etc. through the wedding and beyond.

He asked for copies of our lease and bank statements which I gave him.

Interestingly, he then asked my husband where his ancestors were from. He wanted to know about our cultural compatibility. Additionally, he asked whether he was interested in, or helped with the cooking. We had insides jokes, so we burst out laughing and explained why to him.

He then told me that I was approved and if I would wait 10 mins he would get my passport stamped.

We went back to the waiting room and when he called me up he gave me my passport and told me to read the removal of conditions paper.

Unfortunately, the 2 couples who went in around the same time as us were clearly not as lucky.

We walked away feeling incredibly blessed.

Best of luck of all!

My interview went well today. Very happy to report that I was approved and got a stamp on the spot! Will write a longer review later

Our interview date is tomorrow, my wife as usual is calm and collected, I'm a nervous wreck at the moment. Anyways wish us luck please. Tomorrow at 8am we'll be having our interview. Good luck to the rest of you.

Same here, my husband is totally calm as well. My interview is in the afternoon. Hopefully, we won't cross paths because that would mean you'd have been there more than half the day!

I too, will report asap.

haller! how's everybody doing? hope u guys doing okay. my fiancee (us citizen) is already divorced 2 years ago but his x wife is receiving alimony from him but they don't have kids. is there any way that the alimony could be cut off? or the amount could be lessen? is there any other option for that? because they don't have kids so why she is receiving alimony, right? my fiancee told me before that what she wants if not she's not going to sign the divorce paper. but i don't think that's right. hope there's someone who could give me infos about this matter, thanks. and also she will be counted on the house hold right? godspeed!

Generally speaking, alimony could continue (depending on the state) until the ex-wife remarries. It sounds like she negotiated a settlement to which he acquiesced. If there is absolutely a serious change in his financial circumstances (not just his inclusion of you in his life), maybe a judge would consider a renegotiation of that divorce agreement. He pays her alimony because in the state in which they lived/ divorced, that was her entitlement to which he agreed, child support is a wholly separate issue.

I'm a new york filer too with the same date...!

Lovely! Best of luck to you. Nice to know we won't be going through the experience by ourselves that day.

I wish someone will explain to me why some people have to wait for 8 months to get interview invites while some people get them in 1-2 months after NOA.

This wait is now becoming punishing.

I know...I'm so sorry for the folks waiting since last Sept/Oct/Nov. Some of the reasons I have heard for some delays, I wouldn't necessarily put in a public forum like this because I have no way to verify the truth and would never want to mislead anyone.

All I can say, is I truly feel your pain and hope that everything works out well and as soon as possible. It's really frustrating to realize that had we been in less populated areas, we may have all been over this process already.

Keep the faith.

I checked the website again today and for the first time, there was an update indicating that we have an interview on July 13. I haven't received the actual notice in the mail yet, so I'm just assuming it will be in Manhattan. Good luck to all waiting in NYC.

I checked the website again today and for the first time, there was an update indicating that we have an interview on July 13. I haven't received the actual notice in the mail yet, so I'm just assuming it will be in Manhattan. Good luck to all waiting in NYC.